Green light for latest Jubilee Gardens plans

Dutch firm West 8's proposals for the South Bank riverside park were originally approved in 2006 but the planning permission lapsed when legal problems and a lack of funding meant that they could not be implemented.

The project to revitalise the tired space has been given a fresh impetus as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games in 2012 both draw near.

The latest proposal – a slightly modified, lower-cost version of the 2006 scheme – was unanimously approved by Lambeth's planning applications committee on Tuesday night.

The existing flat expanse of grass will be replaced by an undulating landscape with new paths and dozens of new trees.

As of September £4.5 million funding had been secured – including £1.5 million from Transport for London. The final cost of the works is expected to be about £5.5 million.

The park, which is currently managed by Southbank Centre on a long lease from Arts Council England, will be transferred to a new Jubilee Gardens Trust made up of representatives of local landowners, businesses and community groups.

The future of the adjacent Hungerford Car Park remains unclear. The BFI's proposal to use the site for a new national film centre has been shelved following the withdrawal of Government funding.

• Lambeth's planning applications committee also granted retrospective planning permission for the London Eye's EyeSkate ice rink which opened next to County Hall at the end of last month. Danny Price, the London Eye's head of operations, apologised to councillors for the late submission of the planning application.